


Paint a new world

by AliaMael



Category: Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You
Genre: Gen, Graffiti, Hopeful Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-23 02:07:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30048285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliaMael/pseuds/AliaMael
Summary: Shibuya is not meant to be clear-cut, ordered, sterile. Its people would have found a way to correct this anyway, but if some individuals had the possibility to help the process along, well… who were they to resist?
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	Paint a new world

**Author's Note:**

> So apparently [the wall in Shibuya that inspired CAT's mural in Udagawa is now all white](https://twitter.com/chiri0310/status/1371031646405730308). I have no idea why, but Feels happened, then discussion, and then suddenly fic.

The wall was _blank_.

It had not been CAT's mural anymore for a long time, now. After the mess of the Long Game, Sanae had been forced to lie low, his Imprints all over the city dissolving into thin air, and his tags had begun to show signs of passing time instead of staying pristine like they usually did. When enough flakes of paint had left the wall, other artists had taken upon themselves to fill in the gaps, creating patchworks of colors on so many surfaces, and Sanae had been _happy_ about it.

Pushing humans to do better was nice. _Seeing_ them doing better was so much _more_.

So yeah, Sanae had not mourned the disappearance of his murals, too busy celebrating the collective art that bloomed everywhere he had put paint before.

But now, the wall –that one big wall in Udagawa, the one that had been the most public face of CAT's street art– was _blank_. White. Cleaned, which was to say destroyed, from an artistic perspective. Killed, from the perspective of non artists simply living here or passing by, now faced with that clinical piece of concrete instead of a vibrant tribute to _life_.

(Sanae hoped, dearly hoped that it had not happened because without CAT's name attached it had seemed less important. He was already angry enough.)

He knew he was staring, but he couldn't help it. It felt… foreign. Out of place. Like something taken out of a factory and dropped in the middle of Shibuya by the weirdest possible accident.

He hated it.

He knew the livings were uneasy too. Most of them, at least. That specific wall had _always_ attracted glances, but before people left with a slight smile or a tiny bit more energy in their steps. Now they had frowns and eyes downcast.

This was not the Shibuya he had fought for. (Not the Shibuya he had been ready to destroy himself for.)

And so, even if he was not supposed to make waves, he couldn't help but dig out his old cans of paint.

–

Kariya wouldn't call himself a specialist in street art, but you don't live in Shibuya for decades without picking up one or two things. He'd heard about the White Wall (it had acquired capital letters at some point in the grapevine). He knew it was… _wrong_.

He also knew, as soon as he saw the change in the middle of the sea of white, that it would be alright.

The tag was not that big, just large enough to be impossible to miss, leaving tons of space all around. It was _definitely_ CAT's work, which was already quite a statement given that the elusive artist had entirely stopped street art for a while now. But CAT had made their meaning very clear in their choice of design. There were paintbrushes drawn on the wall, along with cans of paint –spray or not–, paint rollers, markers… and everything was dripping color in a beautiful, provocative mess.

It was a claim. _That wall belongs to us, the artists. All of us._

It was also, Kariya noted with amusement, an Imprint. _Paint._

Well. The place was still a bit difficult to tag from the RG, given the surveillance, but there were still a bunch of people who could start up the process, right? Good thing that the UG hosted so many artists (even if graffiti was not the preferred medium of expression for a lot of them).

He didn't _organize_ anything, he was not that kind of person. He just innocently pointed the tag to Uzuki, shared his reflection about RG versus UG, and watched the cogs turn behind her frown.

It took her less than 24 hours to gather half of the Reapers to paint the wall.

She made sure they left lots of space for the livings to add their part, and for that Kariya loved her even more.

–

If anyone had been intimidated by CAT's art and not daring to paint near it, the hesitation disappeared with the explosion of colors from the Reapers. And at that point those who had decided to erase the art from the wall in the first place had no choice but to admit they couldn't keep it white, so the street artists took their chance.

Soon enough, the only white left was fresh paint highlighting the other bright colors.

It was not the same. It would never be the same anymore, but it had never been meant to be permanent anyway, so it would be alright.

(Nothing ever stays sterile and contained when faced with _life_.)


End file.
